West-central Vermont is the county behind the name. Kaiser Shipbuilding Corp. at Vancouver, Washington, laid the keel on 4 May 1944. The launch on 10 August 1944 had Mrs. Karl V. Kilgore as sponsor. Taken from the Maritime Commission on a loan charter, the Haskell attack transport was commissioned on 29 September 1944 with Commander Francis K. O'Brien in command.
She reported on 9 October 1944 to the Pacific commander in chief. A shakedown along that coast followed, and Oakland was the departure for Pearl Harbor on 30 November, with arrival on 6 December. Hilo was where the 5th Marine Division boarded her and the other ships of Transport Division 47. She wore the flag. Crews and the embarked men drilled among the islands, and on 27 January 1945 the division sailed from Pearl Harbor, making Eniwetok in the Marshalls on 5 February before going on to Saipan and Tinian. On 16 February Squadron 16, Division 47 included, sailed for the Iwo Jima invasion.
On 19 February 1945, which was D-day, she went into the assault against an island that was heavily fortified. Red Beach 2 was run by her beach party. The landing craft worked that beach and Red Beach 1. Eight days went to troops, cargo, and casualties. Eleven boats failed to return. Several of the beach-party men were wounded, yet no one was killed. She left Iwo Jima on 27 February, reached Saipan on 2 March, and at Guam put the Marine casualties ashore. Tulagi, in the Solomons, was the stop for replacement boats on 12 March. Espiritu Santo came next. Her part in the Okinawa invasion was to be a floating reserve, and men of the 27th Division, 10th Army, filled some of the berthing.
Kerama Retto was the approach for Transport Division 47. During the morning of 9 April, Kerama Kaikyo took her in, and she was moving again that evening while enemy aircraft struck ships nearby. Tsugen Jima, small and still in enemy hands on the eastern side of Okinawa, was where dawn on 10 April found her, inside the inner transport area. Boats from the ship landed troops who had come in Highlands (APA-119). Soon after noon the formation shifted to Nakagusuku Wan, a wide bay of Okinawa proper, and waited until Tsugen Jima was secured two days later. From the island, rifle fire, mortar rounds, and canister punished the landing craft. Almost every boat was marked, but the harm was not serious and no men were wounded.
Hagushi, on the western shore, was the next beach. It had been secured on 1 April, Okinawa's own D-day, and unloading proceeded there through the 16th while enemy aircraft made numerous attacks on the transport area. She helped bring four of those planes down. Boats given up to the Okinawa boat pool were replaced at Saipan. Ulithi and Subic Bay were the ports for overhaul and reconditioning. From 26 June until 22 August, drills at Leyte and at Ilaiho prepared her for an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Japan's acceptance of surrender terms canceled that training.
She was among the earliest transports off Honshu. Tokyo Bay on 2 September was the entry, troops of the 1st Cavalry Division landed at Yokohama, and on the 4th she started back toward the Philippines. About a week later she was at Leyte. At Zamboanga, on Mindanao, elements of the 41st Infantry Division of the 10th Corps and troop cargo came aboard on 16 September. Hiro Wan, on Honshu, was reached on 6 October by way of Leyte and Okinawa. On 14 October, at Okinawa, almost 1,900 Navy passengers boarded for the United States, and Seattle received them on 1 November. One further run to Okinawa and back followed. On 29 December 1945 the Atlantic reserve received her. Navy ownership dated from 14 January 1946. She left active commission at Norfolk on 26 February 1947 and stayed in that berth through 1 October 1958, the day her name left the list and the Maritime Commission became her holder. Two battle stars were earned in the war.